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Once we heard the outer door close, Casey looked at me and laughed. “You certainly have a way of making an entrance. Yes sir, quite an entrance. Don’t mind Miles,” I gathered this was the stationmaster, “he’s a good man but jittery! Everything makes him nervous. Well now, what can I do for you and where’s your friend this morning? And why the dramatics- better start with that, what attention do you refer to?”
I wasted no time. “There are two men tailing my associate and me. I believe they were dispatched by someone in Richmond who may know about our mission and is trying to follow us, for what purpose I don’t yet know. They were at the hotel this morning, and now one of them was loitering outside. I think I’ve succeeded in convincing him that my business with you is commercial in nature, and I’m hopeful that they’ll continue to believe so. I doubt they’ve been thrown off completely, and I believe they’ll continue to shadow you until they find who they’re looking for.”
He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Who are they looking for?”
“Two men, here to see the local military commander on a military mission. Any two men meeting with you will be under suspicion. We need to give them those two men.”
The plan I outlined to Casey was simple: two of his employees would return to the hotel and ask if there had been any messages from Mr. Casey. They would then go on a meandering walk about town, stopping in at random locations, in hopes of attracting one or both of our shadows. I gave him descriptions of our pursuers, so his men would be able to identify them. He wrote out his instructions and we left his office to go meet Gordon. The man at the pillar was no longer there, and Casey was able to deliver his instructions in person to a man just entering the office. The man, Casey’s clerk it turned out, left at once to find his soon-to-be partner in our charade, and we resumed our journey to the restaurant. I kept my eyes open for either of our shadows, but we remained in the clear as we made our way.
Gordon was halfway through a fine breakfast when we entered, and paused between mouthfuls to ask after our meeting. Casey and I ordered, eggs and ham for him, eggs with bacon and toast for me, then filled him in on the day’s events. As the morning rush was nearly over, service was prompt and we were soon digging into a fine meal. The bacon was the thick cut style so prevalent in the Virginia countryside, with a fine smoky flavor and plenty of meat. The eggs were slightly undercooked, with a wet, almost runny, texture to them, but they were delicious just the same. The toast was thick cut and slightly singed, but served with peach preserves- no doubt canned the previous summer and laid up for winter. The meal was very filling and our hunger was soon but a memory. We sat back in our chairs and started to talk in earnest, no longer having to pause between bites to chew.
The discussion drifted quickly from our pursuers to the more pressing matter of our transit into Maryland. Casey had contacts with the railroad who could help us avoid any official notice, while speeding us to Baltimore. From there, we would be on our own. We could return via the same route, or make our own way back to Richmond. I instructed Casey to make the necessary arrangements, but before he left, I had one more request of him.
“I need someone who can draft official correspondence, the kind with seals and so forth. Do you have someone who can be trusted to keep their silence with this? It’s critically important.”
He was taken aback at the intensity of my stare, but realized this wasn’t for my own amusement and gathered his thoughts. “There’s a local justice of the peace, we could use him. He’s not the most pro-Confederacy man in the county, but he’s honest and takes his duty seriously. Beggin’ your pardons, gentlemen. Any service he can provide, he’d consider it his responsibility to do so, and he wouldn’t ask no questions neither. You tell him not to talk about it and he won’t. No sir!”
I assured him the man would be suitable for our purposes, and asked him to arrange an appointment. “It would be best if we could do it this afternoon,” Casey suggested. “There’s a late train I can put y’all on, not too many folks take it and y’all can mix in with the train hands. But dependin’ on how long it takes to do your documents, y’all might need more time.” Gordon and I took his advice, and agreed to meet at the house of the justice in two hours’ time. That would give us an opportunity to return to the hotel and pack; I intended to leave straight from the justice’s house to avoid any association with either Casey or the hotel.
Having settled the agenda, we went our separate ways. Gordon and I split up before we reached the hotel, with him heading to the stables to get the horses ready while I went inside and packed up and checked out. This would give us enough distance between our arrivals so we wouldn’t appear to be traveling together. We would proceed independently to the justice of the peace, where we would meet up with Casey.
Arriving at the hotel, I went inside and took a brief look around the lobby; neither of our shadowers could be seen. That only left the dining room, so I went to the front desk and informed them I would be checking out and had them prepare my bill. The clerk appeared nervous and asked me to wait for the hotel manager, which immediately caused the hairs on the back of my neck to rise in alarm. I nodded my assent, and once he disappeared, I turned to peer into the dining room. Again, no one I was looking for. Returning to the counter, I was in time to see the manager emerge from his office, followed by the clerk. Neither looked happy.
The manager sported an elegantly waxed mustache with upturned ends; he nervously twisted them as he approached, then smoothed back his center-parted hair and fixed a toothy grin on his face. “Terribly sorry, my good Sir, but I must inform you there’s been a bit of a...problem in your room while you were out.” His voice faltered at this declaration.
“A problem?” I responded neutrally.
“Indeed, Sir. It seems as though someone has entered your room, for what purpose I can only speculate. If you would be good enough to examine your belongings and advise us if anything is missing, I can assure you the hotel will offer reasonable compensation.” The oily smoothness of the man was grating. Reasonable compensation? Was he serious? “I can assure you,” he continued, “that this is completely out of place for this hotel!” He seemed more outraged that his hotel’s reputation was threatened than at the possible theft of a guest’s belongings.
“Can you explain to me what happened?” I asked. I needed to find out the facts before I went into my room. While a robbery was certainly within the realm of possibility, I had to consider our unidentified chaperones as potential culprits.
The manager motioned to the clerk to explain. “Well Sir, the laundress went to collect your garments and noticed the door to your room was ajar. She heard movement and thought you might be inside, so she called out to ask if you had anything further. A man came running out of the room and down the stairs, she said. She immediately notified me, and we went back to your room to examine it. It seemed as though the man was looking for something because everything was in disarray. I locked your room myself, and posted one of our servants at the door just in case.”
I allowed the clerk to lead me upstairs, while I considered this turn of events. A thief was a possibility, but would he ransack the room? My wallet was with me and the hotel had a safe for valuables, and I had only a small valise with my clothing, which was mostly empty. It would take no more than a quick look around the room to see that there was nothing of value laying about. From the clerk’s description, this was indicative of a search, albeit a hurried one. Which meant the intruder was after something specific and had to look for it, rather than a casual thief looking for something to sell.
We reached the room and the clerk dismissed the servant positioned outside the door. I wondered about security in a hotel like this- were the staff screened before they were hired? Could someone bribe one of the staff for, say, information on a guest? Were our movements being reported by persons working for the hotel? It was impossible to rule in or out, without any evidence. Even if I could prove it, what difference would it make? The person being bribed wouldn’t be able to do more than provide a description of the man they were dealing with, and I was betting I already had a good description of them.
The clerk unlocked the door and opened it for me, standing aside as he did so. The scene which greeted me confirmed my earlier suspicions- the room had been searched, and thoroughly. The mattress was flipped over and askew- looking for something concealed beneath it, no doubt. The drawers in the dresser had been removed and overturned- for the same reason as the mattress, looking for something concealed there. My valise was opened and the clothes laid out beside it; ironically, they were the neatest thing in the room, likely as a result of a careful search of each garment. Chairs, table, mirror- everything in the room had been upended or turned around by the searcher. Whoever it was seemed convinced I had concealed something in the furniture, and I wondered where that conviction had come from. Undoubtedly, he was looking for a document he believed I possessed- it was impossible to conceal anything else behind the mirror or on the chair bottoms- which made me positive it was one of the shadowers. Likely the man from the dining room, as we had seen the man from the pillar at Casey’s office. The search of my room fit with the theory we had developed of a spy ring trying to track our movements and determine our mission. They had been able to determine that they were looking for two men, traveling together, who arrived late. They knew the men had met with Casey. And now they had learned at least the room number of one of the two men- I wondered if Gordon’s room had met the same fate.
The clerk was speaking in the background, but I wasn’t listening to him. I barely noticed him closing the door behind me as he left me alone with the mess. I walked around the room, setting things back in their proper places, as I considered the implications of this action. Clearly our enemies were willing to take risks- getting caught by the laundress was sloppy tradecraft, he should have closed the door behind him. The whole thing made no sense. Who let him in? Did he have a key? Why didn’t he lock the door behind him, or at least close it? Was he afraid of being trapped in the room by my unexpected return? That made the most sense, and tended to reinforce what I thought I knew of the situation: he and his partner had learned that two men had arrived late last night, and had met with Casey. They placed the lobby under observation, looking for two men coming down together. When they failed to locate their quarry, one was dispatched to Casey’s office and the other remained behind to search the rooms of the late arrivals; it wouldn’t give them our faces, but it would give them our plans. So he searched my room, leaving the door open in case he needed to make a quick escape. He was hunting for any papers or documents which would reveal our orders- whether or not he completed his search, I had no way of knowing, but it looked as if he had searched the whole room with great diligence.
As I looked around and tried to retrace my unknown visitor’s movements, I found myself second-guessing the story related by the clerk. According to him, the laundress had retrieved my garments, found the door ajar, and asked the occupant of the room if he needed any further service- at which time the occupant hurriedly dashed out the door and down the stairs. If that were the truth of it, then the interruption came...when? I could find nothing in the room which hadn’t been examined. All the furniture was moved, all the bedding disturbed, the mirror on the wall, the curtains at the balcony- nothing appeared to have avoided scrutiny. So here was the mystery sleuth, standing amidst the wreckage of the room, doing- nothing? Unless the interruption fortuitously came right as he finished, there was literally nothing left for him to search when he made his escape. A bit more likely, perhaps, was our man bribing someone for access to the room and having them stand guard outside while he searched, leaving the staff to concoct a story about a break-in to cover their involvement. I briefly considered asking to interview the laundress, but decided against it. Even if I could prove the story false, I would gain nothing. Better to continue to play the role of innocent then to confirm my identity. As things stood now, the adversaries knew only that I had checked into the hotel with another gentleman and had a late-night visitor. They didn’t know my face, they didn’t find what they were looking for, and they hadn’t seen us meeting with Casey. Their promising lead wasn’t going to pan out, if I had anything to do with it.
After packing my belongings, I returned to the front desk. The clerk and manager were waiting with a degree of trepidation- the clerk was actually sweating- which I found interesting. “No doubt a common thief!” I greeted them. “I must say, I had not expected to find such things in a hotel of this reputation”- the manager blanched white at this comment- “but I suppose these things happen from time to time. Fortunately, nothing was taken- your laundry woman must have frightened him away.”
I asked for the bill, protested at the manager’s offer to compensate me for the invasion of my privacy, and graciously allowed him to deduct the morning’s breakfast from my bill, despite my having eaten elsewhere- not a bad deal, as far as I was concerned. As I paid the clerk, Gordon came in and approached the front desk. Without looking at him, I remarked to the clerk, “I appreciate your assistance in assigning someone to watch my room after it was burgled. I do hope you catch the thief, and he troubles you no more.”
The clerk’s reaction was slight, but noticeable- if I harbored any suspicions about the search being facilitated by the staff, they were gone now. “We’ll keep a sharp eye out for anyone suspicious, Sir.” He could start with himself, as far as I was concerned. “How may I help you Sir,” he said, turning to Gordon. With no further business to conduct, I went outside to retrieve my horse. The groom had both of them, so I gave him a generous tip- he had been a superb groom, after all- and mounted up. With one last glance inside the hotel, where I saw Gordon give a slight nod, I was off to meet Casey. With luck, Gordon would be right behind me.